2012 Educators Study Tour to Japan

Japan Society was pleased to receive many excellent applications across the United States. 10 teachers have been selected to participate in the 2012 Educators’ Study Tour to Japan.

Dr. Wanda Alderman
Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. Senior High School (Upper Marlboro, MD)

Ms. Jennifer Beck
Loyalsock Township School (Williamsport, PA)

Ms. Margarita David
Greenwich High School (Greenwich, CT)

Mr. Jeffrey Allan Ellis-Lee
High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry (New York, NY)

Mr. Brian Hanson-Harding
Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan (Old Tappan, NJ)

Mr. Haydn McLay
Sheridan Japanese School (Sheridan, OR)

Mr. Zachariah Pickard
Bard High School Early College Queens (Long Island City, NY)

Ms. Amy Repay
Newtown High School (Sandy Hook, CT)

Mr. Thomas Simmons Jr.
Trinity Episcopal School (Austin, TX)

Ms. Dena Zamore
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (Astoria, NY)

About the Study Tour
The Educators’ Study Tour to Japan offers edu­cators nationwide the opportunity to travel to Japan for three weeks to bring their experiences back to the classroom. The program is open to middle and high school classroom teachers, librarians and school administrators (principals, assistant principals and department chairs only), and includes an intensive pre-departure orientation and a study tour to Japan in June-July.

Highlights
The study tour will acquaint the participants with Japanese society through a wide range of site visits in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Aichi and Wakayama. Homestays with families in both rural and suburban areas and school visits are significant parts of the program. The tour focuses on K-12 school visits to help participants have a better understanding of Japan’s education system by meeting their counterparts in Japa­nese schools. The tour provides the opportunity to connect with Japanese schools for planning electronic exchanges and to meet an A-bomb survivor in Hiroshima, who will talk about his or her personal experience. The tour includes an optional visit to Nikko or a part of the Tohoku region hard hit by the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami.